Arts, Briefly; Apologies to a Critic

By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON; Compiled by Ben Sisario

Published: September 9, 2006

John Weidman, president of the Dramatists Guild of America, apologized for a mistake he made in his censure of Hedy Weiss, a theater critic for The Chicago Sun-Times. On Aug. 16, when Ms. Weiss wrote a scathing review of the eight musicals at Stages 2006, a festival of shows in development presented by Theater Building Chicago, Mr. Weidman wrote to The Sun-Times condemning her for reviewing works in progress. But on Wednesday he wrote to the paper again, acknowledging that one of his main assertions -- that Ms. Weiss's decision to review was ''in violation of the express wishes of the theater'' -- was not true. He apologized for the error, saying he was given false information, but added that Ms. Weiss's coverage still remained ''irresponsible and unprofessional.'' The letter concludes: ''To the extent that I criticized Weiss inaccurately, I was unfair, and I regret it.'' CAMPBELL ROBERTSON